Margaret Dergalis
Margaret Dergalis’ path to Wayland began in Philadelphia and detoured through Wisconsin. Eventually, it brought her here to a life far more exciting and fulfilling than she might have imagined when she first arrived in this quiet town as a young single woman. Her grandmother and her late husband – a renowned artist whose works have hung in The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and galleries and museums around the world – were major influences in her life, helping to shape her interests and passions. She has shared those passions first as a teacher, then as a partner in business and in life, and more recently as a volunteer lecturer opening up others’ eyes and hearts to the enduring power of fine art.
A Grandmother’s Inspiration
Born and raised in the northeast suburbs of Philadelphia, Margaret says her parents gave her wonderful values. “But my biggest influence was my maternal grandmother, Florence Tourison Reid,” she says. “She loved the library, art museums, the opera, Shakespeare,” says Margaret. And she describes a very specific item of her grandmother’s that sparked the personal interests Margaret would pursue as she grew up. “She had a genealogy book beautifully bound with a crest on it, and in our family there was a shipwright who came to Philadelphia with Lafayette,” she recalls. “That initiated my interest in history and my interest in French.”
She chose the University of Wisconsin for college because of its excellent French Department, and found that she loved being in the Midwest. “Everyone was friendly and open, and I enjoyed that,” she says. “It was also an international campus, with people from all over the world. That’s important when you are growing up.” She took out student loans and worked hard to put herself through school, something her mother had instilled in her. “My mother had to drop out of high school and work to help support the family during the Depression,” says Margaret. “I really valued my education.”
Finding Her Life in Wayland
Harvard would play an important role in Margaret’s post-college choices, both the university and the town. Engaged to a young man who was entering Harvard Law School, Margaret moved to the Boston area and, through a contact at her alma mater, met with the chair of the French Department in the Town of Harvard public schools. “And that’s how I got the job,” she says. She taught French in the Harvard schools for seven years.
What didn’t work out quite as well was the engagement. “I knew it wasn’t going to work, and I broke the engagement,” she says. “It wouldn’t have been fair to either of us.” Living in Boxborough, Margaret heard about “a wonderful art teacher in Wayland. So I started studying art, and fell in love with the teacher.”
The teacher, twenty years her senior, was George Dergalis. “People would say that he was the best teacher they ever had,” says Margaret, “and really a life coach.” George had started his own art school in 1969, after having been an instructor at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and DeCordova Museum in Lincoln.
An Extraordinary Life
When Margaret met him, George Dergalis had already experienced more hardship and challenges than most people experience in a lifetime, including having served in three wars. She speaks of him with obvious love and admiration. Born in Greece, drafted into the Greek Army at fifteen-and-a-half to fight in the war with the Italians and then the Germans, George was captured and sent to a Nazi prison camp for three years. “He eventually led an escape from the camp, and got to Italy,” says Margaret. In Italy, his love of art began to flourish, and he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. “He was living on the streets in Rome,” says Margaret, “and eventually he got to New York and then to Fitchburg.”
Now an American, at age 23 George was drafted into the Air Force during the Korean War. He served in Germany with the Air Transport Service, transporting wounded troops from throughout Europe to Germany. And during the Vietnam War, he served as a combat artist, spending three months in Vietnam producing an extensive collection of drawings and paintings.
Despite these experiences, says Margaret, “he was an incredibly positive person, a happy person, and he taught me a lot about how to be positive, to keep busy, to understand what his father taught him: that no task is too menial. You can derive a lot of satisfaction by just going outside and clearing up branches. No task is too small.”
Sharing Their Lives and Work
Margaret and George were married in 1979, and she left teaching to help him run the art school and his other businesses. “I was the photographer, the framer, the secretary,” she says with a laugh. In addition, Margaret’s love of reading and gardening helped fill her time while George taught and created art. “For an artist, it is more important to create than to breathe, or eat, or sleep,” she says. “It is a driving force. An artist’s first love is their muse, and you have to understand that, and love them for that. Part of loving someone is to embrace who they are and that was easy for me,” she says.
Together, they traveled to South America where George was an artist-in-residence for several months, and had two exhibits. “He never fit into a box, artistically,” says Margaret. “He created realistic work, abstract work, watercolor, egg tempera, oil…he was always exploring.” He designed the Wayland Veterans Memorial in front of the Town Building, which was dedicated in 2005. In 2012, at the age of 83, George passed away.
“He was my best friend,” says Margaret. After his death, she traveled – “I needed to get away, to see something new” – and at home, she was determined to keep busy. “The Wayland Library and the Council on Aging were life savers,” she says. She also felt the healing power of gratitude. “Gratitude is so important,” she says. “Thank the person who pumps your gas or bags your groceries, and exchange a few words. You brighten their day, and that comes back to you a thousand fold.”
Learning and Teaching Life’s Lessons
Her advice on aging is simple: “The most important thing is to be positive. Keep busy, use your body and your mind. Walk, have a hobby, pursue lifelong learning, volunteer.” At the same time, she says, “it’s important to accept your limitations and work with them. If I overdo it, my back will go out, so I have to be realistic about how much I can do.” And one more thing, she says: “Adopt a pet. Before he died, George said I should get a dog and name it after him. I did get a wonderful yellow Lab, but she’s a female so I didn’t name her George.”
For the past year or more, Margaret has been keeping busy in part by leading monthly programs for the COA on Art Appreciation, teaching participants about artistic genres and specific artists. Because of the Covid pandemic, the programs have been offered via Zoom, and Margaret – a lifelong learner herself – had to learn how to use and grow comfortable with new technology. Margaret’s natural gifts as a teacher, combined with her knowledge and love of art, have made the programs very popular.
“Seniors really like to learn,” she observes. “I wanted to do this for other seniors, but also to say thank you to the Council on Aging for all they have given me.” Along with her insights on the art of Monet or Frida Kahlo, Margaret’s generosity, curiosity, and positivity serve as life lessons for her students and all who know her.